For the second year, SOM is leading a group of New York City high school students in the ACE Mentor Program of America, designed to inspire high school students to pursue careers in architecture, engineering, and construction. The group—known as Team 25 and comprising 13 students from the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn—meets weekly throughout the school year with mentors from SOM, Atelier Ten, and Sciame to learn about various aspects of the building industry. As one of their activities for this year, the team submitted a design project to the Construction Industry Round Table’s (CIRT) National Design & Construction Competition. Out of 60 submissions from around the country, Team 25 was named as second runner-up in the “Revitalize an Urban Block Challenge.”
The challenge calls for proposals to redesign real-world sites. Competing teams were required to select an urban block and make a coherent plan to rehabilitate or replace existing structures, add transportation services, find land for open space, and propose additional uses. Team 25’s submission, “Sunrise Garden,” proposed revitalizing Brooklyn Army Terminal, an underutilized former industrial site in New York. The three-phase plan involves connecting the local community to a flood-resistant waterfront, building a transportation hub, and bringing housing, businesses, and education services to an existing warehouse. Winners were chosen based on the presentation of their proposals, the viability of their plans, and how potential obstacles were addressed. All second runners-up won a $500 prize and a team certificate.
SOM Architectural Associate Nathan King, one of Team 25’s mentors, said, “This is the first year that Team 25 participated in the CIRT competition, and we are incredibly proud of our students’ submission. The challenge of imagining something on an urban scale really engaged our students’ imaginations, and the competition gave them an essential framework to channel their imaginations and big ideas.”
The ACE Mentor Program of America, a nonprofit organization, is active in more than 200 cities across the country. SOM’s New York office has participated in the program since 1997.